Knowledge and Attitude to cornea donation and corneal transplant among adults in a rural community in Imo State

FIDELIS ANYIKA

Authors

FIDELIS ANYIKA FEDERAL UNIVERSITY TEACHING HOSPITAL, OWERRI

Keywords:

Attitude, Eye donation, Knowledge, Respondents

Abstract

Background: Globally, blindness secondary to corneal pathology affects about 5.5 million people bilaterally and another 6 million people unilaterally. Inadequate awareness and a poor attitude regarding eye donation among the public have been reported as a major draw-back to corneal donation in Nigeria.

Objective: To assess the knowledge and attitude to eye donation among adults in Umunama community and identify the socio-demographic determinants of the knowledge and willingness or otherwise of adults to eye donation.

Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. A structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. A total of 361 respondents made up of 55.1% males and 44.9% females (M: F =1.2:1) participated in the study. Data was analyzed using IBM-SPSS Statistics version 25.

Results: About one-third of the respondents had knowledge about eye donation. About 44% of the respondents were willing to donate their eyes, while 42.4% were willing to donate the eyes of their relatives. The commonest reason for willingness to donate was service to humanity (45.5%) while negative cultural beliefs (28.6%) were the major reason for unwillingness to donate eyes.A positive attitude to eye donation was more likely among females and older respondents.

Conclusion: Focused health education by all cadres of health care workers to members of this community especially the males and younger age group on the importance of eye donation is recommended.

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